The compass camp 2024 in Saarbrücken was a great success once again.

20 players from nine countries and two professional sparring partners gathered in Saarbrücken for five intense days. In addition to table tennis and training sessions, the camp included learning with Spinsight and a workshop on sustainability.

“I had a lot of fun at the camp,” said nine-year-old Alyssia Bataille from France. “It was a good variety of training, I met new friends and the atmosphere between all the participants was very nice”.

The week at the Hermann Neuberger Sport School in Saarbrücken went by quickly.

Breakfast, table tennis training, lunch, rest, table tennis training again, dinner – and then either table tennis training for the third time of the day or various activities to educate and expand knowledge. And in the evening a lot of watching the exciting table tennis at the Olympics.

Spinsight, the unique tool to digitally track the exact numbers of spin, speed, placement and trajectory, was at the beginning of its existence an exclusive thing with not many units spread across Europe. For some time now, it has been possible to track two of the measurements – spin and speed – with an ordinary mobile phone. Spinsight has developed an app that opens up new possibilities for all players with a modern mobile phone to track the spin and speed of the balls they hit over the net. Hermann Mühlbach trained the coaches and parents, and Konrad Tiefenbacher measured the spin and speed in the kids’ forehand and backhand loops.

“A great tool to work with at home,” said Peter Gestrup, father of Sweden’s Arthur Stribeck, one of the youngest compass supported players.

Sustainability was another theme. Every individual, every company and every sports organisation has a role to play in stopping global warming, including compass. So a good start to this long, exciting and important journey was a workshop in which a film explained climate change to the children and some information was shared before the young players came up with their own ideas on how compass could reduce its carbon footprint.

“Travel by train.” “Cycle to the gym.” “Return used rubbers to the manufacturer who will recycle them.”  “Don’t drink from plastic bottles.” “Don’t buy new plastic bottles – refill water in a bottle you use over and over again.” “Turn off the lights in the hall after training.”

 The workshop ended with a symbolic act when the children themselves planted an olive tree next to a group of chairs and a table near the dormitory.

Compass expert coaches Oliver Alke and Evelyn Simon led the sessions with their usual dedication to the development of the young players and a fine balance of challenging exercises and fun variations that kept the participants both sweating and laughing.

“A fantastic week,” concluded Oliver Alke, who was in charge of the organisation as well as the training sessions. “From a social point of view, it was wonderful to see players from nine countries mixing and having fun with each other, both at the table and outside. We had two professional players as sparring partners for the kids – Florian Bluhm and Dauud Chaib. It was a week of improvement in a framework of joy and respect.”

“We had a lot of discussions at the table with both players and coaches and I hope they go back home with some new ideas. All the players here are talented and who will make it in the end is ultimately up to them.”